


Eight Cups of Tea

by katmarajade



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkwardness, Co-workers, Crushes, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-16 00:19:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1324711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katmarajade/pseuds/katmarajade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy has a crush on the new Assistant to the Minister of Internal Affairs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eight Cups of Tea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bendleshnitz1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bendleshnitz1/gifts).



Percy met the love of his life on August third at precisely nine in the morning. She was the new assistant to the Minister of Internal Affairs and had a desk right next to Percy, who was the assistant to the Minister of Magic.

Reduced to the social competence of a smitten fourth year, Percy mumbled an introduction, felt his face turn a horrifying shade of maroon, and awkwardly held out the wrong hand for her to shake, forcing her to juggle her cup of tea and stack of paperwork to respond. Mentally berating himself, Percy promised silently to do better next time.

The next day he brought her a small, pleasant-looking, non-poisonous, non-allergenic, non-shedding plant as an "office warming" gift. She smiled politely but he noticed how she conscientiously watered it and rotated it so that it got equal amounts of sun on all sides. (He wasn't sure if the fake sun of the weather charms was actually of any use to a plant but thought it was sweet all the same.)

Audrey Archer was just about Percy's age with a posh accent, a clipped tone, and an unflappable demeanour. Her long, curly hair was always wrestled back into a pretty but serviceable plait or bun, but tiny wisps sprung free by midmorning and Percy's heart beat just a bit faster each time she reached up to brush them away. Her serious brown eyes and calm expression said all business but every so often Percy would catch a little twinkle in her eyes and a twitch of amusement flirting around the her lips. She was fascinating—complex, brilliant, capable, tidy, and glorious.

For the first time ever Percy handed Minister Shacklebolt the incorrect folder with his post-lunch paperwork. The Minister began to make a comment on Percy's rare error and flustered demeanour, but he bit back his words with a knowing smirk when he noticed Percy's uncharacteristic flush and nervous glances at the new Internal Affairs Assistant, who was obliviously organising the Minister's inbox.

"Why don't you take a break and get a cup of tea, Weasley. Perhaps Miss Archer would like one as well," he suggested. She glanced up briefly and gave a distracted nod before turning back to a folder that was crawling away and hitting it with a Sticking Charm.

Percy came back twenty minutes later with an armful of cups. Audrey looked up as he shuffled in, moving slowly as not to upset his precarious load.

"My goodness, Percy. How many people did you get tea for?"

"Oh, erm, just you, me, and Minister Shacklebolt." She gave the pile of cups a questioning glance. Percy set down the Minister's extra strong English Breakfast, three sugars, and his own Earl Grey with a splash of milk.

"How many cups of tea did you get me?" she asked, staring at the eight remaining cups.

"Well I wasn't sure what you liked so I got English Breakfast, Earl Grey, and Peppermint, because I don't usually see you with caffeine after your midmorning cuppa. And I brought milk and some of this semi skimmed milk and a little soy milk in case you aren't able to have dairy, and some honey, some regular sugar, some calorie-free sweetener- - there are so many different colours of it these days, so I just brought a couple of each, because I didn't know what the difference was. Oh, and a bit of lemon. What would you like?" He glanced up hopefully, eager to impress her with his thoroughness.

"Just the English Breakfast would be lovely. I actually drink it plain ..." She looked almost apologetic at his supply of add-ins. At the sight of his disappointed shoulder droop she hurried to add, "Thank you—it was so sweet of you to put in such effort. I really appreciate it."

Percy handed her the plain cup of tea and nodded briskly. "It was nothing." Dropping the rest of his armload into the rubbish bin, he went back to his desk, cursing himself for appearing so stupidly overeager.

"Percy?" His head shot up at the sound of her tentative voice.

"Yes," he squeaked, then cleared his throat and tried again. "Yes?"

"I'd be happy to try this tea thing again if you wanted. Even somewhere else, you know, if you'd like."

"You mean a date?" Percy asked disbelievingly, mentally kicking himself at his shocked tone and the horrified, embarrassed expression it brought to her face.

"Never mind," she said quickly. "I just thought ..."

"No!" he shouted, glancing guiltily at Shacklebolt, who had looked up from his desk at the racket. "I mean, no, yes, I would want, if you want. I eat dinner. I mean, do you eat dinner? Of course you eat, I just mean ..."

She interrupted his rambling. "Are you asking me if I want to have dinner with you, Percy?"

He took in at her encouraging expression, amazed that someone so lovely and bright was even talking to him. "Yes. Yes, I am. And clearly doing a bang up job of it."

"Well, I think it's a lovely idea."

"Yeah?"

"Yes, I do. It's a date."

Percy grinned and accidentally shredded a rather important document. It was a date.


End file.
